Boca set to reclaim Argentine crown

There was no Palermo. No Riquelme. No Battaglia. No Cvitanich. No Viatri. There was no idol, deity or King; no one man desperately trying to stand tall beneath the weight of the fierce expectation. There was just a team; a collective – one that on Sunday evening beat off their closest rivals to put Boca Juniors nine points clear at the summit of Argentina’s Apertura championship with just six matches remaining, a team Clarín declared had now beaten its biggest rival of all: itself.

“It’s not easy at Boca,” 38-year-old Rolando Schiavi, a surprise contender for player of the season, told La Nación this week. “When you wear this shirt you always have to fight for the championship.”

For the first time in three years, that’s exactly what Boca doing under coach Julio Falcioni. They have now gone 23 games unbeaten in league. They've won at Newell’s, Independiente, Lanus and Colon. They've won nine of their 13 matches this season. They've scored 17 and conceded just three, leaving it with a goal difference more than twice that of the league’s next best. It's quite an achievement for a club that came into the season with genuine concerns that it could be dragged into a relegation battle akin to the one rival River Plate eventually lost last season.

Goalkeeper Agustin Orion and returning defenders Rolando Schiavi and Facundo Roncaglia have been mainstays in a new look Boca defense that has led the club to the brink of a title.

It’s also a record nobody could have foreseen back in March, when a turgid and insipid Boca side went down 2-0 at home to Olimpo. By then, Falcioni - a former Argentinian international goalkeeper who had led Banfield to an unlikely league championship in 2009 - had been in the job for just three months and had lost four of his six matches in charge. With the likes of Carlos Bianchi reportedly waiting in the wings, a defeat the following week at Colon would likely have been his last match in charge.

Ironically, his job was saved that Sunday evening by the very man that would have been cited as a major factor behind his dismissal. Falcioni arrived at La Bombonera in December and quickly developed grandeurs of regicide. Intent on introducing a solid 4-4-2, he committed the most treasonous of acts: dropping Juan Roman Riquelme. The decision was tactical – “it’s to do with how the team operates,” the coach insisted after not even naming Riquelme among his substitutes for a home tie with All Boys.

But – as Omar Little once said – if you come at the king, you had best not miss. Falcioni did. But to his credit, he quickly retreated. Sometimes a coach shows his true strength in admitting he was wrong. Riquelme returned. And, inevitably, it was his wonderful free-kick that then gave Boca a 1-0 win at Santa Fe. After Falcioni adapted his shape to accommodate ‘El Diez,’ Boca would lose just one of its remaining 12 league games to finish the Clausura in seventh.

Reinforcements arrived, and Falcioni was also aided by the departure of the club’s other major idol, with Martin Palermo retiring at season's end. At 37, he had had finally passed his sell by date, and his tumultuous relationship with Riquelme had split the dressing room. “Martin's exit defused the previous situation of who was with one and who was with the other,” admitted Sebastian Battaglia.

Ajax’s Dario Cvitanich provided an infinitely more mobile replacement as Falcioni set about finding answers to problems that had dogged Boca long before his arrival. Facundo Roncaglia returned from Estudiantes, slotting in at right back. Agustin Orion arrived from the same club to solve what had become a crisis in goal. Yet the most surprising signing of all has proved the most successful, with Schiavi a revelation at centre-back. All three have been mainstays in the country’s meanest defense.

Most impressive of all, however, has been the way in which the team has dealt with injuries. Falcioni has created an atmosphere and togetherness that has seen fringe players stepping up in the absence of their more esteemed colleagues. Battaglia hasn’t made a single appearance so far this season, and Leandro Somoza has more than adequately filled his boots. Over the last fortnight, Cristian Chavez has impressed in Riquelme’s absence, scoring his side’s third in Sunday's 3-1 win over Atletico Rafaela. Pablo Mouche has deputized for Cvitanich, and when Boca really hit panic stations following the loss of its other striker (Lucas Viatri) to cruciate ligament damage, in came young Nicolas Blandi to fire in four goals in two games, securing two vital victories - goals he says he owes to those around him: “The goals I have scored are because of the work of my teammates.”

As Falcioni spoke to me before the season, he said Cvitanich and Viatri were his first choice, with the a more mobile combination providing “an advantage on the counter-attack.” It will speak volumes of the job he has done Boca crosses the finishing line without them.

With a sizable lead atop the league, Boca need no longer look over their shoulders. With four of the top eight to face in its last six games, newly promoted Rafaela in second place look unlikely to push Falcioni’s men. Of the other the pre-season contenders, Velez were stunned by the late loss of star striker Santiago Silva to Fiorentina and look to have recovered too late to mount a serious challenge. Racing Club, under new coach Diego Simeone, lacks the firepower. With only 10 goals in its 13 fixtures, La Academia may be the only other unbeaten team in Argentina, but draws count for little (they sit one point behind Rafaela, who has already lost five times). Estudiantes, meanwhile, made some impressive signings in the transfer window but has failed to gel under new coach Miguel Angel Russo and languish second from bottom.

It’s been quite a turnaround at La Bombonera. At one stage few thought Falcioni would make it to the winter break. At the time of this writing, a poll in Clarín has 79% of football fans admitting Boca has already won the league.

“If we continue like this,” says Orion, “it is going to be inevitable that we will finish as champions." Boca face a trip to Velez on Sunday before a home clash with Racing next week. A couple of favorable results will likely see Orion’s prediction become a reality even sooner than expected.

Falcioni arrived at Boca December last year admitting he felt “the players were distressed,” stressing “we have to create a strong group.” That’s exactly what he’s done. And it’s the group that, over the next few weeks, will likely secure Boca its first league title since 2008.